Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Blissed out on Domestic Bliss

The last couple of weeks at our house have been an interesting presentation of change of pace and reversal of roles. Thanks to my free time, my need to chill out, and lack of employment, I have had oodles more time to be at home. James, on the other hand is working full time hours and coming home at the end of the day, totally beat and then continuing whatever he didn’t finish from the day. Up until the end of April, these roles were reversed; I was the one who was working (or in my case, schooling) crazy hours and James was at home more or at the shop. And he was definitely the main cook.

So, now I’m home, and I am loving it. I am totally chilling out… though for me, ‘chilling out’ is defined as being productive at my own pace (not so much the lounging about, watching movies and eating bonbons chill out scenario) and really loving those checklists. I have discovered that I naturally like to fall asleep between 12-1am, and then wake between 9-10am. I am spending more time outside, walking, biking, erranding. I am taking care of our home (James is helping with this too, though he really has been swamped lately, so it’s more my thing these days).

And I am main cook these days.

Just earlier today, as I made my way home with groceries (on the bus, with a backpack full o’ food, three other grocery bags and big thing of milk. I felt so bad ass walking down the street, lifting my ‘weights’…until I had to put the bags down ‘cause they were so damn heavy. A nearby elderly lady cackled at me. But then I picked them up again, and the badassery continued, and aforementioned elderly lady cheered me on. They were really heavy bags), I realized that a change had occurred. Yes, we needed groceries, but I had taken some time before heading out to think about what I should make for dinner, then planned it out and THEN purchased ingredients for said dinner!

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a new phase in the world of REL. I know I recently mentioned that I was once dubbed the noncook in my family house, and that I was looking up recipes, which was new. But this, this was interesting- not only did I have the wherewithal to think about it and plan ahead, I also really enjoyed thinking out the menu and how preparing it would fit in with the rest of my day.

For the record, tonight’s dinner was far from gourmet, veggie cheeseburgers with sweet potato fries and iced tea , but I am starting to experiment more. Last night I made a stir-fry out of a random assortment of ingredients from the fridge/freezer. T'was delicious. Also, James pointed out to me the other day that I have taken more ownership of the kitchen as evidenced by me putting on my own cooking music (FYI- Rusted Root= Fully Awesome cooking music), as opposed to just playing whatever of his music was still in there.

So in all today- I took care of some wedding stuff today, made said dinner, did laundry (and put it away), got an hour walk in, and as mentioned before- got groceries. I had a truly domestic day, and it was truly awesome. I felt productive and relaxed at the same time- something I don’t usually feel with school work. I could see the appeal of having a life like this, running the show at home, planning out the meals, not having to work. But I have a feeling that a part of the enjoyment for me is the knowledge that this isn’t permanent, because then it might get boring. Before I know it, I’ll be back in school, burning the candle at both ends, getting married mid semester (it honestly seemed like a good idea a year ago... we were just so stoked about the date- 10/10/10), and re-balancing home and work/school requirements with my husband to be.

But in the meantime, please excuse me while I go ogle recipes, put the guest towels away, tweak our wedding registries and clean up a bit.

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